title: Who was the agent? The neural correlates of reanalysis processes during sentence comprehension.
abstract: Sentence comprehension is a complex process. Besides identifying the meaning of each word and processing the syntactic structure of a sentence, it requires the computation of thematic information, that is, information about who did what to whom. The present fMRI study investigated the neural basis for thematic reanalysis (reanalysis of the thematic roles initially assigned to noun phrases in a sentence) and its interplay with syntactic reanalysis (reanalysis of the underlying syntactic structure originally constructed for a sentence). Thematic reanalysis recruited a network consisting of Broca's area, that is, the left pars triangularis (LPT), and the left posterior superior temporal gyrus, whereas only LPT showed greater sensitivity to syntactic reanalysis. These data provide direct evidence for a functional neuroanatomical basis for two linguistically motivated reanalysis processes during sentence comprehension.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, Germany. masako_hirotani@carleton.ca
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirotani
authors.forename: Michiru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makuuchi
authors.forename: Shirley-Ann
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rüschemeyer
authors.forename: Angela D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Friederici
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012660:Semantics; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult